Consumers Demand Free Apps

Allison Howen

Posted on 7.21.2013

Paid mobile app downloads are dwindling, according to a new report from Flurry Analytics.

The report, which took a look at how the percentage of free versus paid iOS apps using Flurry Analytics has changed since 2010, reveals that between 2010 and 2012 the percentage of apps in its network that were free varied between 80 and 84 percent. Conversely, in 2013, 90 percent of apps in its network are free.

This stat is interesting as most apps come in two different versions nowadays – free with ads and paid with no ads. That data implies that consumers are choosing free content over premium content with no ads, and developers are launching more free apps to satisfy this demand.

In addition, the study shows that Android users are even less likely to pay for apps than iOS users. In fact, as of April 2013 the average price for paid Android apps (including free apps) came in at $0.06, which is considerably less than the average price for iPhone ($0.19) and iPad apps ($0.50).

Another noteworthy finding shows that developers have likely leveraged data to make app pricing decisions. According to Flurry, there has been an upward trend among iOS apps that were subjected to pricing experiments since 2010, which suggests that many developers who ran pricing experiments decided that charging any amount of money reduces the demand for their apps.

With this data, Flurry concludes that ads within apps are here to stay. This is because developers must monetize apps somehow, and it is clear to see that consumers prefer free content with ads over paid content without ads.